Press Release: Tickets on sale next week for the UK premiere of Boris Charmatz’s danse de nuit

[Jan McNulty]

Tickets on sale next week for the UK premiere of Boris Charmatz’s danse de nuit

Tickets for the UK premiere of Boris Charmatz’s off-site work danse de nuit, a co-production with Sadler’s Wells that places performers outside of the theatre setting, are on public sale from Monday 10 April.

Dancer, choreographer and agitateur Boris Charmatz returns to London from Wednesday 17 - Saturday 20 May 2017 with the UK premiere of danse de nuit. Having previously presented work at Tate Modern and the Hayward Gallery, this is Charmatz’s third visit to London under the auspices of Sadler’s Wells. Booking opens to patrons tomorrow, with rehearsal members able to book from Thursday and members on Friday.

Made after the Paris terrorist attacks of 2015, Charmatz’ most recent work reflects on the political art of the cartoon and on humour and danger. Renowned for subverting forms of dance and movement with his work, Charmatz presents danse de nuit in a location that interconnects with the city, at the top of a multi storey car park in Stratford. It features six dancers moved by a palpable sense of urgency, giving the sense of playing truant after hours when we should be safely at home. An intensely physical, urban night dance that challenges the established order, danse de nuit invites the audience not to play it safe. The intensity of the dance is underpinned by the performers’ use of text, voice and verbal improvisations.

Boris Charmatz says about danse de nuit: “I did not want it to be a piece that would preach on the current situation, but speak very quickly and say many things that would cross our minds, about what we’d want to say and do today. It is really like a sort of logorrhoea, even a sort of glossolalia, of these thoughts and ideas. Public spaces are places where we assemble and yet it is true that in the public space today, especially in France and in Europe, we are haunted by security and danger. danse de nuit is an example of what could be done in terms of choreographic assembly where the choreography of the audience is part of the overall choreography.”

Alistair Spalding, Sadler’s Wells Artistic Director and Chief Executive says: “Holding a significant place in the development of contemporary dance today, Boris Charmatz’s work is remarkable in its clever disregard of expectations, inviting us to deal with the complexities of our human experience in unexpected ways. His latest work danse de nuit encompasses some of the uncertainty that is being felt globally and raises questions about how we see the world. Including a powerful response to the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack, this piece promises to challenge the audience’s relationship with dance and its concept of theatre. The production also gives us a unique opportunity to go beyond our walls and present a site-specific piece which is vital and relevant.”

Ballet trained at The Paris Opera, Charmatz soon decided to take a different path from his classical training when he began creating his own projects and in 1992 he co-founded his first company Association edna with Dimitri Chamblas. Most recently he transformed to great acclaim the Rennes and Brittany National Choreographic Centre (France) into the ground-breaking Musée de la danse when he became the director in 2009. Charmatz re-framed the concept of a national choreographic centre into a new type of dance museum that would host, initiate and invite a new relationship to dance, to the audience and to theatre.

Charmatz’ first performance in the UK was héâtre-élévision at the Hayward Gallery as part of the Move: Choreographing You exhibition in 2010. He went on to present Flip Book at The Tanks at Tate Modern in September 2012 and his relationship with Sadler’s Wells began in 2014 when he presented enfanton the Sadler’s Wells stage.

In May 2015, Boris Charmatz was invited by Sadler’s Wells and Tate Modern to present Musée de la danse in London. In partnership with Sadler’s Wells, Tate Modern presented If Tate Modern was Musée de la danse? an intensive two day performance programme throughout the galleries and the Turbine Hall as part of the BMW Tate Live. More than inviting dance into the museum, the weekend was a chance to consider how the museum could be transformed by dance altogether. At Sadler’s Wells Charmatz presented on the Sadler’s Wells stage two of his works manager and Aatt enen tionon and performed in Partita 2 a work choreographed by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker in collaboration with Charmatz.

Later this summer, Charmatz’s 10000 Gestures will be unveiled at Manchester International Festival from 13 - 15 July, in a co-production with Sadler’s Wells. The work will premiere at the Volksbühne Berlin on 14 - 17 September and will be presented at Sadler’s Wells in 2019.

For full information visit sadlerswells.com/borischarmatz

danse de nuit is co-produced by Sadler’s Wells

The Monument Trust supports co-productions and new commissions at Sadler’s Wells

Supported by London Legacy Development Corporation

Listing information:

UK PREMIERE
Boris Charmatz / Musée de la danse                                               
danse de nuit
Multi Storey Car Park, Lesney Avenue, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Stratford, London E20 3BS 
Wednesday 17 - Saturday 20 May 2017
Performances at 9.30pm
Tickets: £20 (£15 concessions)
Ticket Office: 020 7863 8000 or www.sadlerswells.com

Notes to Editors:

ABOUT SADLER’S WELLS
Sadler's Wells is a world-leading dance house, committed to producing, commissioning and presenting new works and to bringing the best international and UK dance to London and worldwide audiences. Under the Artistic Directorship of Alistair Spalding, the theatre’s acclaimed year-round programme spans dance of every kind, from contemporary to flamenco, Bollywood to ballet, salsa to street dance and tango to tap.

Since 2005, it has helped to bring over 130 new dance works to the stage and its award-winning commissions and collaborative productions regularly tour internationally. Sadler’s Wells supports 16 Associate Artists, three Resident Companies, an Associate Company and three International Associate Companies. It also nurtures the next generation of talent through research and development, running the National Youth Dance Company and a range of programmes including Wild Card, New Wave Associates, Open Art Surgery and Summer University.

Located in Islington, north London, the current theatre is the sixth to have stood on the site since it was first built by Richard Sadler in 1683. The venue has played an illustrious role in the history of theatre ever since, with The Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet and English National Opera all having started at Sadler’s Wells. Sadler’s Wells is an Arts Council National Portfolio Organisation and currently receives approximately 9% of its revenue from Arts Council England. 

ABOUT BORIS CHARMATZ (Full biography)
Ballet trained at The Paris Opera, Charmatz soon decided to take a different path from his classical training when he began creating his own projects and in 1992 he co-founded his first company Association edna with Dimitri Chamblas where Charmatz created his first works: À bras-le-corps (1993), Les Disparates (1994), fromAatt enen tionon (1996) and La danseuse malade (The Ill Dancer, 2008). Charmatz became resident artist at the Centre National de la Danse, Pantin, from 2002 to 2004, and visiting professor at Berlin’s Universität der Künste from 2007 – 2008 where he contributed to the creation of a new dance curriculum.

In 2009, he became the director of the Rennes and Brittany National Choreographic Centre (France), and transformed it in to the ground-breaking Musée de la danse. Charmatz re-framed the concept of a national choreographic centre into a new type of dance museum that would host, initiate and invite a new relationship to dance, to the audience and to theatre. In 2011 Charmatz was the associate artist at Festival d'Avignon, and presented enfant, a piece for 26 children and 9 dancers in the Cour d’Honneur of the Pope’s Palace.

Charmatz’ first performance in the UK was héâtre-élévision at the Hayward Gallery as part of the Move: Choreographing You exhibition in 2010. He went on to present Flip Book at The Tanks at Tate Modern in September 2012 and his relationship with Sadler’s Wells began in 2014 when he presented enfant on the Sadler’s Wells stage.

In May 2015, Boris Charmatz was invited by Sadler’s Wells and Tate Modern to present Musée de la danse in London. In partnership with Sadler’s Wells, Tate Modern presented If Tate Modern was Musée de la danse? an intensive two day performance programme throughout the galleries and the Turbine Hall as part of the BMW Tate Live. More than inviting dance into the museum, the weekend was a chance to consider how the museum could be transformed by dance altogether. At Sadler’s Wells Charmatz presented on the Sadler’s Wells stage two of his works manager and Aatt enen tionon and performed in Partita 2 a work choreographed by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker in collaboration with Charmatz.

Tate Modern has not been the only gallery Musée de la danse has performed at. In 2013, he was invited to MoMA, New York where he conceived Musée de la danse: Three Collective Gestures, a three week dance programme in the Marron Atrium and throughout the museum.

While maintaining an extensive touring schedule, Charmatz participates in improvisational events on a regular basis and continues to work as a performer with Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and Tino Sehgal.

More information is available on: www.museedeladanse.org – www.borischarmatz.org